PUPILS at Dulverton Middle School have been commended for their outstanding behaviour and excellent attitude to learning in the school’s latest Ofsted report.

The school’s Exmoor Curriculum, in which pupils use their local environment to take part in environmental projects, was also commended.

The curriculum was said to help pupils in areas like leadership, environmental understanding and in sports like kayaking.

Overall the school was judged as satisfactory with satisfactory capacity for sustained improvement.

Ofsted reports rate schools as either outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate.

The report said the school had not always harnessed pupils’ positive attitudes to best effect to raise their academic level.

Inspector Paul Sadler said: “Work does not always challenge more able pupils to achieve as much as they can.”

The inspection found a purposeful atmosphere in lessons and no inadequate teaching with the best teaching said to be outstanding.

The report said that since the appointment of executive head Jeremy Wheedon the school was improving in a number of areas with English teaching leading to better attainment in the subject.

Pupils with special needs or disabilities were said to be making consistently good progress.

Good care and support catering to pupils’ individual needs was being provided.

A number of areas, including the quality of teaching and the attainment and progress of pupils, and the effectiveness of clear target setting, priorities and assessment was focussed on in the inspection.

Improving leadership and management, as well as teaching, to raise pupils’ attainment and improve their progress was recommended.